Healthy Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream

Now, I’m sure some of you are asking, “Why the heck is Jessica using half-and-half??” Well, the only reason I have avoided butter (and the like) for the past few years is because my family struggles to keep their cholesterol levels in check… and also because I had the same problem when I was back in high school. Today, though, my cholesterol levels are pretty darn good (low LDL, high HDL, etc) and they have been since I started eating healthy. My LDL (“bad cholesterol”) number in high school was higher than my total cholesterol number now! So, I’m starting to use exclusively organic, non-GMO and grass-fed half-and-half, cream and butter. I’m a bit anal on the whole “grass-fed” part because the cows aren’t fed GMO-corn that they can’t digest, their milk contains a higher omega-3 content over omega-6 (an unbalanced ratio of too much omega-6 to omega-3 causes inflammation), the cows are treated well, etc etc etc. I totally understand that this is difficult to find sometimes, even at Whole Foods, so regular organic half-and-half should do it 🙂

Please please please buy organic, unless you like the flavor of growth hormones, estrogen, and pesticides on your tongue *gags*

But really now, who cares about my blood test numbers? I snagged a carton of half-and-half at Whole Foods for a really good deal (and seriously, when does that ever happen?). I was also buying a small tin of matcha and BOOM! Ice cream popped into my head. And then this (green) magic happened…

Directions:

Notes:

I originally wasn’t going to share the recipe here because I worked so incredibly hard on publishing Naughty or Nice. But, I understand not having a recipe here can be frustrating. So, I’ll meet you halfway… how does that sound? I’ll show you all the ingredients I use in the recipe. That way, you can determine on your own whether or not the cookbook is for you!

I just discovered your website and love your recipes. I can’t wait to try a couple of them ( or maybe all of them), however, I would like to know why you don’t use peanut butter and opt for most other nut butters. I just wanted to say that your added comments to your recipes show your passion. I am truly enjoying reading your recipes. They all sound amazing. My first recipe will be your chubby hubby protein bars!!!!

Gina-
I’m so glad you found my site! I sure hope you like all the recipes… yes, ALLLLL of them! 😉
I actually use peanut butter a lot in my recipes, more than almond butter and other nut butters.
Here are all my recipes with peanut butter (69 so far):http://dessertswithbenefits.com/tag/peanut-butter/
Here are all my recipes with almond butter (44 so far):http://dessertswithbenefits.com/tag/almond-butter/
I also like the flavor of PB the best 🙂
I sure hope you get to try one of my recipes sometime soon. Veeeery soon 😀
Thanks so much for commenting!!
-Jess

The xanthan gum helps with the texture and also helps prevent ice crystal from forming. I’m not sure of any good subs, but I guess you can try some starch. I’d suggest heating the half and half on the stove over medium-low heat, and whisking in about 1/4 cup of organic corn starch. Whisk constantly until thickened. Then, chill the mixture. To make sure it’s completely incorporated, try adding all the ingredients to a blender and then going directly into the ice cream machine. Hope this works out for you Ryan! 🙂

Here’s the cool thing… half-and-half isn’t even bad for you! The big myth is that fat is bad, and cholesterol in food leads to cholesterol in your arteries… but this has been recently proven wrong which is awesome!
When we eat healthy fats like olive oil, avacado oil, or (yes!) all-natural butter, it actually makes our cardiovascular systems healthier because the tissue surrounding our veins and arteries is mostly made of fat. Eating fat is essential to keep our systems healthy and functioning properly (but definitely make sure it’s healthy fat!).
The cholesterol that clogs our arteries is not actually from the cholesterol in our food. I know, it sounds crazy, but this has been proven. When we eat refined sugars or grains, our liver actually produces a kind of cholesterol while processing it, and that’s the cholesterol that ends up in our heart. This means your cholesterol levels went down because you cut down on refined sugars/grains. Awesome job on that! There are tons of people that could benefit from it if they would commit themselves to eating better.
But back to the fat… it’s actually dangerous to go low-fat, and has been recently proven to not help people lose weight at all. They did a study with one group eating low-fat, and another group eating a lot of fat, but they actually had to cut the experiment short. This was because too many of the low-fat participants were dying from heart attacks- no joke! They didn’t have any fat to support their cardiovascular systems.
Not to be offensive at all, but I just wanted to share the good news that we need to be eating more fat, since the vast majority of the world isn’t aware of this yet. Cheers to good health!

I’m sorry to be a negative Nancy here, but only to be shown an ingredients list but not given the instructions does NOT make me want to purchase your book. I would have been more likely to consider buying your product if you had shown me the full recipe.

I totally understand that you may be frustrated that this recipe isn’t free, but in no way am I forcing you to do anything. If you don’t want my book, that’s totally up to you! My loyal readers have supported my decision to keep the recipes in the book — writing/photographing/publishing a book that took nearly a year to create, then publishing the recipes online for free, doesn’t make sense. I am a full time blogger (quit my real life job in January to pursue this dream), and my cookbooks are a main source of my income.
I’m really not letting anyone down. This recipe might not be free but I have posted 550+ recipes on my blog over the course of 6.5 years that are free. You’re welcome to check those out. Hope you understand!
-Jess

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Welcome to Desserts With Benefits®! My name is Jessica and there’s a good chance I’m eating cake as we speak (healthy cake, of course)! Here at DWB, we use good-for-you ingredients to make balanced treats we can feel good about eating. (Read More »)

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